Board Gets Lessons In Block Scheduling

Enfield School Officials Take Notes, But Not Action

ENFIELD — The board of education learned Tuesday about alternatives a committee is studying to increase the amount of time students spend in class.

The alternatives are variations on a new concept sweeping high schools called ``block scheduling.'' The concept calls for dramatic shifts in the way students are taught, primarily through longer class periods.

While the board voted in late August to adopt a ``creative use of scheduling'' as a goal, and authorized a committee to study block scheduling, it did not adopt the new concept.

There are many variations, but in general block scheduling calls for increasing some or all class periods from the traditional 40 to 45 minutes to as long as 90 minutes. This enables teachers to use a variety of teaching methods, allows science labs to be completed in one day and reduces the amount of time students spend traveling to classes.

Tuesday, the team presenting an outline of block scheduling was carefully noncommittal about its desirability.

``We're still exploring,'' said Joseph Gallucci, principal of Enfield High School and a member of the 43-person committee.

``We are not out there jumping on the bandwagon,'' he said. ``We want to be sure this fits in Enfield.''

Gallucci said that in one version of block scheduling, students take four subjects a semester and spend up to 90 minutes per subject per day. Courses that now span a year are taught in only one semester. The advantage is that students can fit in more subjects during the year and spend more time with each teacher.

Among the disadvantages are the need to retrain teachers, the drop in knowledge if students take advanced placement courses in the fall but are not tested until spring, and a possible need for more teachers.

Students at Enfield and Fermi high schools now take seven 45-minute classes a day.

In two other alternatives described by Gallucci, students would take eight courses at a time or study on a trimester plan in three 12-week blocks, which allows advanced-placement courses to be taught all year.

Under a timetable devised by the committee, this school year will be spent studying school systems that have implemented block scheduling, and evaluating the relative merits of various alternatives. In 1997-98, teachers will receive training in the new approach, and it will be implemented in 1998-99.

``This has tremendous opportunities, and we would like an opportunity to move in that direction,'' said Steve Ross, acting principal at Fermi and a member of the committee.

The board has set aside $10,000 for the committee to cover expenses, including visiting other schools that have switched to block scheduling.